New Dietary Guidelines Promote Reducing Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods
January 07, 2026
Guidance on ultraprocessed foods aligns with what the Chef Ann Foundation has advocated for over 16 years
The Chef Ann Foundation commends Secretary Kennedy Jr. and Secretary Rollins for recommending “eating real food” that’s “whole or minimally processed” in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Having the dietary guidelines reflect what the Chef Ann Foundation has advocated for more than 16 years is significant: replacing ultraprocessed foods in schools with meals cooked from scratch. Today, more than 60% of children’s diets are made up of ultraprocessed foods, according to a 2025 U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention study. A growing body of research links ultraprocessed foods with Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, Crohn’s disease, anxiety, depression, and some cancers.
According to the latest USDA Farm to School Census, the majority of school food authorities estimate that the proportion of meals made from scratch is fewer than 25%. To protect the health of the nearly 30 million children who rely on school meals, we must replace ultraprocessed foods in schools with fresh and nutritious scratch-cooked meals made from real, whole ingredients.
Taking ultraprocessed foods out of schools requires government investment.
Due to decades of underinvestment in school meal programs, most schools are not equipped to prepare the majority of the meals they serve to students from scratch. According to a School Nutrition Association January 2026 report, which included results of a survey of more than 1,000 school food professionals from across the country, more than 90% of survey respondents indicated additional funding, culinary training, staff, equipment and infrastructure was needed to increase scratch cooking and reduce reliance on ultraprocessed foods in schools.
Rather than strengthen school meal programs to equip them to serve scratch-cooked meals, to date the current administration has cut federal nutrition programs that helped schools purchase fresh, local ingredients. Funding for local food purchasing should be reinstated, and new funding should be allocated toward supporting school food workforce development and upgrading school kitchen infrastructure.
We need to look more closely at other changes to the dietary guidelines and how they might affect school meals.
Groups including the American Heart Association and Center for Science in the Public Interest have expressed concern about new increased emphasis on animal proteins and fats, as well as guidelines on sodium. We will be reviewing these and other new guidelines closely with our partners to better understand how they might impact existing school nutrition standards and children’s health.
We stand at the ready to get schools cooking.
To reduce ultraprocessed foods in schools, schools need to be able to cook. For more than 16 years, the Chef Ann Foundation has been helping schools start and expand scratch cooking programs. Our team has over 200 years of collective experience working in school food departments. We are intimately familiar with the obstacles as well the opportunities schools encounter, and have developed a structured approach to help schools successfully transition from serving ultraprocessed foods to scratch cooked meals. We stand ready to help schools implement lasting change.
Investing in the quality of school meals is one of the smartest investments we can make in the health of our nation’s kids. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recommendations on avoiding ultraprocessed foods are an important step in the right direction. The next step is to match our conviction with funding and invest in equipping schools with the resources they need to serve kids healthy scratch-cooked meals.
